How to cut
30 Gauge Sheet Metal
How to cut sheet metal galvanized flashing
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now here's a piece of flashing I got
from the hardware store and in fact it's
not 2 by 4 2 foot by 4 foot is it it's
24 inches by 36 so 2 foot by 3 foot
that's one piece believe it or not cost
20 almost 20 dollars but you know I
don't have to use all of it and I'm
probably only going to have to use maybe
16 inches or so remember I've measured
up there
I thought maybe less than 2 feet long so
and then about 16 inches deep or so
maybe I'll maybe I'll make it a little
bit more than that I have a feeling I'm
going to have to have to do some cutting
up there and so I can make this here 16
inches maybe even 18 inches okay
so I can put a mark at 18 and I just
happen to have a t-square here this is
called a two-foot t-square because see
it's 2 feet long so I can just line that
up there and go right on my pencil mark
and I can mark that a couple times you
can see you can see that if you didn't
have a t-square what else could you use
you could use a chalk line got a
chocolate in here that will make a
straight mark what you would do is take
your measured go 18 inches there 18
inches there and this has chop in it
that's why it's called a chalk line and
it's got a little hook at the end you
would just hook it over that this case
I'd have to lift that up a little bit
this is good cut siding and you know all
kinds of stuff pull it like that and
snap it see there that's another another
way you can do a
okay I don't usually use tin snips like
this I usually use tin snips here these
are red handle and usually whatever
whatever bit I cut off I'm going to lift
it up I always cut the same way okay
so in fact I got an 18 inch piece there
I got an 18 inch piece there too okay
I'm just cutting this in half I'm just
gonna kind of keep my foot on one side
lift the other side up and be real
careful not to not to get your hand
caught on that edge or something cuz you
that'll catch you later
I just keep cutting and if I don't want
very many lines on there I will I won't
use the cutter all the way to the tip
each time I'll just do a little bit at a
time
can I keep lifting this piece up and
cutting remind you red handle if you
know anything about snips red handle are
to cut curves you're right-handed green
handle ones or if you cut curves if
you're left-handed to cut the other way
and yellow handle are to cut straight
well I don't I don't use the yellow
handle because I can cut straight with
the red one see how easy that was
if you don't have that you can do
something like this but then then it
takes a little while longer and it's not
as easy to work with this one here it's
got the spring on here and this is with
tin snips I highly recommend these and
like I say I've got these but I very
seldom use these they're just kind of
awkward to use now if I use them all the
time
okay fine but I don't wonder if I should
even cut anything with this and I'm
going to be wasting my flashing but
let's just let's just see I want to cut
one a little bit see there they're
harder they're harder to cut with like a
tell I'm struggling just to cut this
line here now with with this if you want
to cut a straight line let's say in the
middle of flashing you could do that a
little bit easier if you're just cutting
straight maybe you don't have to lift
one side up as much but I don't mind
lifting one side up when I cut that's
just how I do it and it works for just
about anything okay so I'm going to take
this piece up there on the roof and then
I'm going to fashion it
however I've got a pair of pliers I'm
going to use to do some bending I might
even I might even use this crescent
wrench to grab the edge if if I have to
put you know some small little edge on
there let's say I can bend that up or
whatever okay okay I guess I'm ready to
get back up there and see what I can do
about fashioning a piece of flashing and
I'm going to use this right here now see
here's one thing to note am i a
professional roofer of course I'm not if
I called a roofer right now he's going
to charge me probably $150 or more if we
wanted him to guarantee his work to find
the roof leak it could be a 250 dollar
bill let's say and he's going to end up
doing certain things that I could
probably do myself that's why I'm going
to tackle this project I got $20
invested so far I'm gonna have some
Hawking probably maybe some sheetrock or
some sheet metal screws so I got 25
bucks in this all together when I'm done
and if that fixes the roof leak Caray if
it doesn't I could look up there and try
something else next time and do that if
the roof leak wasn't dripping that bad
so I mean if it's a major roof leak then
I probably would have found it a lot
easier but it was just slightly drip
drip drip on a really heavy rainstorm we
don't get many of those throughout the
winter
ways but again I'm going to try to fix
it myself to save my mother some money
hey here's one more tip to whenever
you're working with flashing sheet metal
if you don't want to use a pencil you
can use a sharpie here's a sharpie and
then you can mark up you know and you
can see things a lot easier as you're
cutting remember that
